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Via Debuts Smallest PC Mobo Format Yet

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the angels-on-the-head-of-a-pin dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Via is readying a media-oriented motherboard in what could be the next popular size for small form-factor PCs: Pico-ITX. The 'Epia PX' board measures 3.9 x 2.8 inches and features a 1GHz C7 processor, along with rich audio/video I/O, albeit mostly on pin headers. Pico-ITX measures 3.9 x 2.8 inches (10 x 7.2 cm) — exactly half the surface area of Via's already small 4.7 x 4.7-inch (12 x 12cm) Nano-ITX standard, and considerably smaller than the original 6.7-inch square (17 x 17cm) mini-ITX standard."

14 of 159 comments (clear)

  1. Still ATX power supply? by scsirob · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is something I don't understand. This should be the ideal motherboard for a Car PC. But this board yet again insists on an ATX power supply.

    Why not design a single supply board? Preferrably wide-range input (say 8 - 28V) and be done with it? These boards don't need +/- 12V anyway, and +5V or +3.3V is already regulated down to core voltages.

    --
    To Terminate, or not to Terminate, that's the question - SCSIROB
    1. Re:Still ATX power supply? by tehSpork · · Score: 2, Interesting

      My guess is that adding power regulation circuitry would make the board less compact and add more potential for failure.

      If these eventually get to the point where they are priced reasonably I could see getting one and sticking it in a cdrom bay, would make for a nice small internal server. :)

    2. Re:Still ATX power supply? by Garridan · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Unless you plan on using a big-tower and build a Beowolf cluster of these ;-) Actually... I was just thinking that maybe 10 of these together would be the size of my laptop. And my laptop bag has the extra space. And that since they've got mini-pci slots, they get wireless networking, and I would only need to supply power. And these can't take much of that. I usually plug my laptop in, anyway. But then, I would have a 10x1GHz superlaptop. For the price of two laptops (not counting the original).
  2. Vapourware by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    VIA have a nasty habit of announcing technology, and not shipping it. Look at the NTX format. They announced it, and for the next several years you just could not buy them retail.

    If you are building OEM devices, they may sell to you - but there are other alternatives out there for mass production besides VIA.

    And to second another poster - there are always problems with the drivers. If they were building the same quality in a more conventional marketplace (ie desktop) people would put them in the same marketspace as many of the original 'all in one' boards and avoid them in droves.

    VIA - if you are serious - show it. If not just go blow away.

  3. RAM?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I see video, I see IO, but I don't see RAM, how do I put ram on that thing.

    1. Re:RAM?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It has 1x DDR2 SODIMM socket
      is what is reported on mini-itx.com

    2. Re:RAM?? by triikan · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It's on the other side. A lot of VIA motherboards have CF Cards and/or SODIMM slots on the other side to save space.

  4. Lets go Retro! by clickclickdrone · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This is cool - when things get this small it will only be a matter of time before we start seeing PCs that look like C64's or Atari 600XLs i.e. size of a thick keyboard with a few ports at the back. Stick on MAME and have a seriously fun little toy.
    Heck, why not just stick on an Atari 800 & C64 emulators too. You could even go really mad and well, use it as a PC with Open Office etc.

    --
    I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
    1. Re:Lets go Retro! by vidarh · · Score: 3, Interesting
      You mean like this?

      That was using a MiniITX board.

  5. Still not impressed by Tainek · · Score: 5, Interesting

    i have two problems with the VIA Mini Range

    1: Low Performance

    Even the 1.5 GHZ VIA Cores perform badly, only a nudge faster than a P3. there are other options, such as the pentium boards (see point 2) and an AMD socket 754 board (Why 754? , why not AMD2, even 939 just so we can use dual core!)

    2: Price
    These things cost a silly amount, here in the UK its about £90 entry for the pathetic 500mhz boards, and about £150 for a 1.5GHZ via. or you can pay £150 for a intel board, but still need to buy a proccessor

    And the nano ITX, well now those are ugly, for the cost of one of those i can get an xbox360...

    1. Re:Still not impressed by Brane2 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Final nail in the EPIA coffin is "we don't give a fu**" Linux support.

      Some HW on that board has decent open source drivers and for the rest VIA doesn't care much.

      Most prominent example is unichrome driver. It has "open source" version, but it is very incomplete as poor bastard who did it had to work without VIA's support.

      They claim that you can get the datasheets etc, but in reality I have asked them several times and never got an response.

      So, with Linux you can't utilize even what meager HW you have onboard.

      VIA's answer seems to be that one should use Windoze. But those boards are not cheap as it is and with extra SW cost total prices are even higher.

      C3/C7's performance and/or power consumption is not exactly stellar, so it's hard to find compelling reason to go for even the cheapset basic M-1000, let alone pico or nano-itx.

      If one decides on using Linux, one can find much better, more economic and cheaper alternatives on other platforms.

  6. Why the analog video output? by Darkon · · Score: 2, Interesting

    When are these going to go away? Nobody I know uses a CRT any more. Why not include a DVI connector on the back instead? For that matter, why do all graphics cards and many low-end LCD screens employ these old VGA interfaces?

  7. It needs integrated wireless networking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Seriously, this little thing screams "Tiny wireless system in a closet" to me. Aside from the ancient video connector, this thing really needs a wireless NIC built in to it. Imagine it: A Car PC that can be accessed from the comfort of your living room. A server in a shoebox in the closet. A media PC the size of a DVD player...

    All of those things would be so much nicer without the burden of running CAT5 everywhere. Hell, some shielded patch cables will probably weigh more than the computer itself.

    It's painful to see something come out that is a wonderful idea but that is executed so poorly.

  8. Bus lockups galore with Via by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    But their drivers are utter crap.

    Actually, their hardware is crap too, when pushed.

    I had to stop buying Via too after all three of my Via-based boxes glitched in different ways. The worst problem was terminal bus lockups on doing anything even mildly intensive with 2D graphics. And no, they were all different models of motherboard, so it's not just one rogue product.

    I get the impression that Via hardware designers simply don't understand adhering to bus specs and defensive design. Their hardware is cute and advanced in their low-power niche, but really flakey.

    Sorry Via, but in the Linux world we don't treat bus lockups and the need to reboot our machines as normal.